Imagine this…

You’ve set a clear intention.  Now the perfect [program / training / retreat / trip / house / school for your kids / what-have-you] shows up, seemingly out of the blue.

Instant yes!  Except…

…the finances and time commitment are just outside of your comfort zone.

You were SO sure, and now…

Or how about something like this?

When your [VA / admin / tech guy] showed up, they were perfect for your business.  Now?  Not so much.  But their sudden departure will cause aftershocks, messiness, and possibly lost revenue.

You were SO SURE about letting them go… until you really looked at the numbers.  And now… you’re anything but.

Or…

You make a decision and command that it be so – woot!  Your next step immediately shows up.

Call this person.  Buy this program.  Call that person and offer them that program.

The idea makes you feel heavy in your body.  You were SO clear before, and now…

Now, maybe it’s not what you really want, anyway.

Call it intuition or call it Spirit (they are one and the same)… we are all being guided in the direction of our highest expression.

Your Essence longs for expansion, and being a manifestation of Spirit, it works with Spirit to guide you in the direction of your Desire.

And we all know that feeling, right?  When our intuition, Essence or soul speaks… it’s ON.

Problem is… we are also being guided in the other direction.  You have an ego and a subconscious, both of which have a well-meaning yet truly vested interest in keeping you right where you are.

With literally hundreds of decisions to be made every day, understanding which voice is which is a crucial skill for anyone who Desires to go the distance with their growth and creative power.

Is it the voice of Spirit, or is it Ego?  How can you know which is speaking to you?

Let’s start with the first and most important “strategy,” which is…

Image Credit: Papaya! Art papayaart.com

We have this thing called intuitive ability.  It exists.

Somewhere in your energy field, either consciously or unconsciously, you know.  100% of the time.

If you always know… then NOT knowing, or blocking the awareness, is actually a choice.

Un-blocking the awareness is also a choice.

If you always know, then you don’t have to put yourself in a position of doubting, second guessing, NOT knowing….  all of which are just another form of lack of energy.

If you always know… and you know without question that you know… 100%, all the time… the answer is there and it is there for you… then all you have to “do” is choose to hear your inner knowing… and act on it.

And how do you do that?

1. Slow down the “monkey mind.”

There’s a BIG reason why meditation is far and away the most universal of spiritual practices.  Meditation slows down the “monkey mind,” allowing you access to other voices and other states.

The benefits of meditation are well-known, and backed up by research.  Everyone and their mom loves meditation, and rightly so.

But what’s that, you say?  You HATE meditating?

Luckily, there are LOTS of ways that you can practice slowing down the monkey mind.   Breath work.  Music.  Exercise.  Moving meditation. Adult coloring books.  Even washing dishes.

What’s that?  You don’t have time?

A single minute, while you’re waiting in line, is all it takes.  Take 3 deep breaths.  Start there.

Still don’t think you can meditate even for one minute?  Deepak has you covered.

2. Empty Out.

There’s slowing down the mind, and there’s emptying out the mind.

To empty out the mind is to release all thoughts, worries, concerns, tension, fear and anything else that is not Truth, and become the empty vessel.  The channel.  (In shamanism, the hollow bone.)

In feminine practices like priestessing and Feminine Magic®, we make ourselves the empty vessel, cup, or cauldron because everything is born (created) out of the void, the womb of the Great Mother.  In the quiet, we can receive what is here… and what is to be.

Becoming empty is a core practice, one that must be experienced. So here’s a short exercise from The School of Manifesting.  My gift to you, no opt-in required.

Click here for the handout

Click here to download the mp3

3. Ask Questions.

Want to know what your intuitive guidance sounds like?  Ask it questions.

What would it take to add $100,000 to my business this year?

What would it take to close on the perfect house for us in the next 30 days?

What would it take to attract the perfect life partner for me?

What would it take for [XYZ] to show up in my life?

What would it take for this project to be easy?

Ask for guidance and you’ll receive guidance.  Pay attention to how it shows up: the channel it came through, the feeling.

You can change your whole life by asking questions.  Jack Canfield and Marc Victor Hansen discovered the title for their mega-blockbuster book series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, simply by asking for “a mega-bestselling title.”

Ask and it is given.  Every time.

4. Grow your vocabulary.

Many years ago, early in my spiritual development, I was drawn to Tarot.  After overcoming some initial resistance – “78 cards?  Upright and reversed?  That’ll take me a lifetime!!” –  I threw myself into learning this elegant, intuitive system for spiritual growth & guidance.

I was right.  Mastering Tarot can take a lifetime.  The cards are dense, rich with symbolism and entire cannons of magic.  If you love “brain food,” this is it.

At first I was overwhelmed.  Wands, swords, cups, pentaces, stars, trees, the color black, the planet Mercury, crowns, pearls on a necklace… in the Rider-Waite deck, everything means something.  And meaning is endless.

But then something interesting started to happen…

Both in and out of readings, my “monkey mind” started to shut off, and my intuition started to turn ON.  The symbols spoke to me in ways words never could.  The “meanings” disappeared and my Essence began to speak through me in ways it never had, using those symbols as language, stringing whole sentences together that seemed to come from… somewhere else.

The more I learned the language, the more my intuition was able to speak.  The more it spoke, the easier it was to discern.  And so it is to this day, even though I haven’t really read Tarot in a while.

Your intuition can tell you a lot.  It can tell you even more when it has language with which to communicate.  How can you grow your vocabulary?

4. Be suspicious of the “no”s.

Have you ever had the experience of inherently knowing your next step, but… it doesn’t really “feel good” in your body?

It’s tempting to take this as a “no.”  But is it really?

Our bodies are wired to throw up resistance when we step outside the status quo.  Change isn’t always going to “feel good.”

Sometimes, your body is going to be freaking the heck out at going in the new direction, the direction of your choice rather than the direction of your patterns.

Your intuition does not speak to you in the language of fear.  Fear, worry, doubt, and resistance are never truth.

Constriction, tightness, and discomfort are an invitation to lean in deeper.  What is on the other side of that feeling?

Your intuition always says YES.  The question is, what is it saying yes to?

You always know.  Don’t let the uncomfortable feeling block your knowing.

5. Practice.

Practice remains the best way to learn a new skill, or polish one that has gotten rusty.

So what are you practicing?

Listening for that first response. The twinge.  That inner knowing that gets covered up in a flash by all the mental hoo-ha.  Then saying yes.  Then TRUSTING.  Then acting on it, without hesitation.

Start with situations that don’t carry a lot of charge.  Ask yourself, “Which will I enjoy more?” “Is this in my highest good right now?”

You always know.  Most of the time, you know right away.

What will it take for you to say YES to your intuitive guidance?

You always know.  🙂